


What are friends for?

by CastielMorningstar



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Crying, Ella Lopez & Lucifer Morningstar Bonding, Ella Lopez & Lucifer Morningstar Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Post-Expire Erect, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24884593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielMorningstar/pseuds/CastielMorningstar
Summary: After the siege on Lux in 'Expire Erect', Ella is very shaken up and struggles with nightmares and anxiety about the events that occurred.However she doesn't confess these concerns to Lucifer or Chloe, fearful that she'll burden them. Until one day they all catch up to her.
Relationships: Ella Lopez & Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 3
Kudos: 135





	What are friends for?

Ella hadn’t slept well the night before, in fact she hadn’t been sleeping well for awhile, not since she’d been drugged up at Lucifer’s club, forced to diffuse a bomb otherwise everyone inside including herself, and her friends would die. It was one of the scariest situations she’d ever been in, and it haunted her thoughts night and day. She’d spoken to her psychiatrist about it, but there wasn’t an easy cure for the PTSD that had been caused by the incident. She just had to try and work through it and reach out to friends when it was too much.

Except she hadn’t done the latter. Since everyone else she would talk to about something like that had also been through it, Ella felt like she couldn’t express her pain and worries to them, because they had also experienced that same pain, and she didn’t want to accidentally make things worse by bringing it up again. Besides, Lucifer had been shot, Chloe had nearly been shot. Ella felt like she’d had it easiest out of the three of them, and by telling them how haunted she was by the experience, she feared appearing weak because both Chloe and Lucifer seemed to have bounced back from it pretty well.

It was one of her biggest flaws. Ella was kind to a fault and would often put other’s emotions and needs before her own. So, if she would risk hurting someone by talking about her worries, then she’d keep them bottled up instead; it was something she had been working on with her therapist for a while, but it was still something she had to work on.

So due to this lack of sleep, it was no wonder that while filling out a lab report, Ella’s eyelids started to droop and soon enough she was lying face down in her paperwork, out like a light, her hand sliding across the page and leaving a long line on the paper with her uncapped pen.

However, as peaceful as she may have appeared from the outside, Ella’s mind was anything but peaceful. The second she was asleep, the images came back more vivid than ever. The distorted, fuzzy memories were hazed by the drugs she’d taken and had to endure the hangover of the next day. But despite that, they were still so awfully vivid; the drugs had not been enough to make her forget what had happened, as much as she wished they had.

However instead of just being memories this time, they were now altered to be even more disturbing. Now her brother was inside the building too somehow, sitting scared next to a bleeding-out Lucifer as Chloe tried to talk down the crazy girlfriend who had just stabbed her ex.

_“You can do this Ella.” Whispered a reassuring voice in her ear and Ella turned but instead of Eve, there stood Azrael._

_For a moment Ella was comforted by the familiar face, “Ray Ray…I really needed you right now. Are you here to help?”_

_“No, I’m here because everyone in here is about to die, and I came to rescue you.”_

_“W-what- “_

_And in the blink of an eye, Ella was suddenly outside the building. “No! No! Ray Ray, they need me to disarm that bomb!”_

_Azrael shook her head, “Oh Ella, you would never be able to do that, so I just figured I should at least save you from yourself.”_

_“But I have to- “Ella was cut off by a huge explosion coming from Lux that sent up a massive smoke cloud and a ball of fire._

_“No!” She screamed, falling to her knees, knowing immediately that everyone inside was dead, including her friends and brother, and it was her fault._

_\---_

“No!” Ella cried, awakening with a violent jolt, springing into a sitting position, her papers and pen clattering to the floor, her heart racing in her chest.

It took her a moment to start to come back to reality, breathing heavily, to notice Lucifer stood by the door, clearly having just walked in to see her waking from her awful nightmare. He looked concerned.

“Are you alright Miss Lopez?” he asked gently, cautiously approaching.

Ella had been trying to be strong for so long, that the simple question had her eyes clouding with tears, her breath hitching in her throat. Her voice refused to work, so she only managed to shake her head, trembling where she sat, trying her best not to start sobbing because she knew that would be totally unprofessional and so embarrassing; being caught sleeping at work was bad enough.

It didn’t seem she needed to say anything though, because much to her surprise suddenly Lucifer was gently lifting her to her feet, and pulling her into his arms, and Ella wasn’t able to hold it back anymore. She melted against him and started to cry into his Armani suit, shaking like a leaf.

Lucifer didn’t complain about her making his suit damp, didn’t flinch at the way she gripped tightly to the back of his jacket. Instead he held her back even tighter and softly rubbed her back in a soothing motion, “It’s alright.” He assured softly, and for someone who claimed he wasn’t good at affection, this was one of the best, most comforting hugs Ella had ever had.

She clung to him for a few minutes and just cried, letting out all of her pent-up emotions from the past two weeks since that traumatic situation. Only when she was too tired to cry anymore, did she finally peel herself away, grateful that Lucifer had let her hug him for as long as she’d needed, even if it had been a little excessive.

She sniffed and moved to wipe her eyes with her hand, but then Lucifer was offering his silk handkerchief which she took with a mumbled thanks, dabbing the moisture from her face as she collapsed back into her chair, her legs still shaky.

“Sorry- “she whispered, blowing her nose and sighing, averting her gaze, embarrassed by her actions.

Lucifer took a seat beside her and shook his head lightly, placing a gentle hand on her arm, “You have nothing to apologize for darling. We’ve all been having a hard time lately, it’s okay to succumb to it sometimes.”

Ella glanced over, eyes red and still a bit damp, “I just…I didn’t w-want to burden you o-or Chloe with my worries, b-because you both went through t-that siege thing too a-and I felt it was unfair o-of me to complain since I was d-drugged up the whole time…but I still remember as clearly as if I w-wasn’t. But its been w-weighing on me so much l-lately and I’ve b-barely been sleeping- “

Lucifer stopped her rambling, “Miss Lopez. Your pain is not lessened by anyone else’s. Was that night hard for us all? Yes. Does that mean you cannot talk to us if you’re struggling? No. The detective and I are your co-workers and more importantly friends. I’m sure I can speak for both of us in saying that we would be more than happy to assist you if we are able.”

“Really?” It wasn’t that Ella thought Lucifer and Chloe didn’t care about her, she just wasn’t used to having friends who would be so accommodating.

“Yes of course.” Lucifer smiled a little, “What are friends for?”

Then Ella finally managed to smile a little back for the first time in awhile, which was unusual for her normally cheery self, “Thanks Luce-“ Lucifer didn’t have the heart to correct her this time, nor to shrug her off when she leaned in for another hug, even if he tensed a little this time.

“You’re quite welcome Miss Lopez.”

Ella didn’t hug him for too long this time, not wanting to push her luck, “Oh sorry, here.” She extended the wet handkerchief back to Lucifer who grimaced.

“You keep it. Now how about you go home, have a nice bath or something and rest, hm? The detective and I can take it from here.” He picked up her scattered papers from the floor and squinted at the words on them, “Well…more like she can, because I have no idea what this says.”

Ella gave a slight laugh, “Yeah I can’t work properly while I’m this tired anyway.” She pocketed the handkerchief and stood up, “Thanks again Lucifer…you’re a real friend.” 

“Anytime Ella.” 


End file.
